Inflation, housing, unemployment figures, personal spending and utility bills are all improving across the US.
Inflation
Inflation increased in March by 0.3%, and in April after adjusting spending forecasts we will see a 0.2% increase. That’s good news for the budgetary constraints of households. It will lead to increased spending all round. May 16thsaw a US inflation figure amount to 1.1%
Unemployment
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on May 23rd that in comparison with the previous week there had been a drop in the number of new claimants asking for unemployment benefits in the US (drop of 23, 000 bringing the figure to 340, 000 new claimants). That was good news. It means that companies are laying off fewer people today than the previous week. Will it hold though? Whatever happens there are still areas where people are being hired these days. The following sectors are on the up:
Health Industry
Half of the top twenty growing industries in the US are related to the health care industry. Major increases have already taken place and that looks set to continue. United Health Group has close to 3, 500 job openings right now. It provides health insurance services to about 75 million around the world. American Mobile Healthcare also has roughly 2, 000 openings. It also provides health insurance to the same number of people all over the world. Combined Insurance Group is hiring more than 2, 000 job openings. When the chips are down, we take out insurance just in case (accident and life insurance policies).
Pet Care Industry
Petco has nearly 11, 000 openings at the moment. It’s not surprising that when recession hits, we tend to retreat into taking care of animals and looking after them. Comfort zones are big business.
Entertainment
Life is difficult. Food is expensive. Take-away food is not. Places like Pizza Hut are expanding today and they currently have more than 6, 000 job openings to be filled right now, for instance.
Housing
Figures show that house sales increased in April by 1.5%. This is giving a necessary lift to the US economy. This averaged out at new homes being sold at an annual rate of 454, 000/month. That’s a 13% increase in comparison with last year. The median sales price ($271, 600) is up 15% from last year. Mortgage rates have never been so low and this along with fewer redundancies in the work market means that the housing market is improving.
Personal Spending
Personal income made gains of 0.1% last month (April), which means that it was almost flat. Wages didn’t increase at all significantly as there was an increase in hourly earnings, but a drop in the number of hours being worked, so it equaled out more or less. This was a drop from 0.1% in March. But, the retail report for April was good and so spending increased by 0.2%.That means that the mood of consumers is getting better. Confidence is echoing the improving economic outlook. Confidence is being estimated to be at e six-month high. Consumer spending for May is more than likely to increase. There will probably be a 2.4% increase in economic growth in the USA this year and that is projected to rise to 3% in 2014.
Utility Bills
Utility bills have seen a fall in percentage outlay of household income. Total spending for households is therefore on the down. However, it has nothing to do with prices. It’s just the mere fact that over the past month the weather has positively impacted the use of gas and electricity in the US on the whole.
Originally posted http://www.tothetick.com/us-outlook-rosier [8]